Sunday, January 11, 2015

D'you Know What I Mean 2015: Cro Cop

Holy shit it's 2015! Hope you had a wonderful Bodhi day, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, Boxing Day or non denominational holiday season with friends, loved ones or Chuck Norris movies and whiskey. Croatian sensation Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic rung in 2015 with a kick in the head followed up by punches to take out Japanese Olympic gold medalist Satoshi Ishii at Inoki Genome Federation's Inoki Bam-Ba-Ye New Year's Eve event in Tokyo. The two had faced off once before with the K-1, Pride and UFC veteran winning after opening up a cut on Ishii's dome with an elbow in August of 2014. Mirko stayed busy in 2014, competing in two kickboxing matches under the Glory banner and two Mixed Martial Arts matches under Inoki Genome going 3-1.

Looking in great shape but missing his signature tights with the Croatian flag, Mirko stuck to his usual style of stalking his opponent around the ring, going for a quick jab or firing off single punches then hopping back out of range. Ishii threw big overhand rights while Cro Cop attempted his signature left high kick before being tied up. The young Japanese Judo expert managed to drag Cro Cop to the mat but was unable to mount much of an offensive or cause lasting damage. Mirko stayed busy from the bottom, throwing punches and elbows. Round 2 started with more pawing and ineffective flurries from both. Feints, hooks and knees from Mirko with more big overhand rights from Ishii. The action hits the mat again but Mirko uses his tree trunk legs to kick Ishii off and get back to his feet. The pair start swinging with Mirko backing up the young buck. A blocked high kick seems to daze Ishii who ties up the former Croatian Anti-Terrorist Cop. A big knee to the face followed by a connecting uppercut spells the beginning of the end as Cro Cop followed up with a left high kick and more uppercuts to put Ishii out on his back, bleeding from the side of his head.Cro Cop retains the IGF title before a pro wrestling like scuffle breaks out in the ring with former Pride veteran Fujita getting in Mirko's face and being broken up by their teams and mother fucking Fedor! Ishii meanwhile, was still recovering from the beatdown and watched the incident from the corner.